Polls open in France’s overseas territoriesPARIS (AP) — Voters in France’s overseas territories began casting ballots for Nicolas Sarkozy or Francois Hollande on Saturday in a presidential election that could affect everything from Europe’s efforts to fight its debt crisis to how long French troops stay in Afghanistan. The final polls show Sarkozy making up ground on his Socialist challenger before Sunday’s election in France — but still suggest a Hollande victory. Campaigning and the ...

London re-elects Boris Johnson as mayorLONDON (AP) — London’s comic and outspoken mayor Boris Johnson won re-election Friday, triumphing in a closer-than-expected vote to secure a second term and his status as the unvarnished and unpredictable host of the 2012 Olympics Johnson’s victory, in election results confirmed late Friday, was a bright spot on a rough day for his colleagues in Prime Minister David Cameron’s governing Conservative Party, who took a drubbing in local elections...

Woman in Secret Service case calls agents ’fools’BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A woman who says she was the prostitute who triggered the U.S. Secret Service scandal in Colombia said Friday that the agents involved were “idiots” for letting it happen, and declared that if she were a spy and sensitive information was available, she could have easily obtained it. The woman said she spent five hours in a Cartagena, Colombia, hotel room with an agent, and while she barely got cab fare out of him, she c...

US, China forge tentative deal on Chinese activistBEIJING (AP) — With a series of quickly choreographed steps, the U.S. and China outlined a tentative deal Friday to send a blind legal activist to America for study and potentially bring a face-saving end to a delicate diplomatic crisis. The arrangements, if kept, promise to give Chen Guangcheng much of what he wanted: a chance to live with his family in safety and to get a formal legal education. It would also allow Washington and Beijing to ...

Affirmative action backed in largely black BrazilSAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s top court has backed sweeping affirmative action programs used in more than 1,000 universities across this nation, which has more blacks than any country outside Africa yet where a severe gap in education equality between races persists. The Supreme Court voted 7-1 late Thursday to uphold a federal program that has provided scholarships to hundreds of thousands of black and mixed-race students for university studies s...

Ahmadinejad rivals ahead in parliamentary runoffTEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Early returns in Iran’s parliamentary runoff elections Friday showed conservative rivals of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad leading in many constituencies in the vote that was billed as an endorsement of the country’s controversial nuclear program. The semiofficial Mehr news agency said the president’s opponents appeared to be winning a majority of the 65 seats that were up for grabs in the second round. Official results are ...

Egyptian troops, protesters clash in CairoCAIRO (AP) — Egyptian troops blasted protesters with water cannons, tear gas and live ammunition, trying to prevent them from marching on the Defense Ministry Friday in clashes that left one soldier dead and scores of people injured just three weeks ahead of presidential elections. The fierce street battles raised fears of a new cycle of violence surrounding the upcoming vote to replace Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted more than a year ago. For t...

Sept. 11 trial of 5 returns to GuantanamoGUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) — The man who once bragged about planning Sept. 11 “from A to Z” may mount a defense after all to charges that he orchestrated the worst terror attack in U.S. history, with families of the dead watching intently from the U.S. on closed-circuit TV. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, charged with four others with planning and helping to carry out the 2001 terror attack that sent hijacked jetliners into the World Trade C...

US searches for solutions in China activist’s caseBEIJING (AP) — U.S. officials scrambled to come up with options Friday after a blind activist reversed course and asked to leave China with his family, abandoning an arduously negotiated agreement after he left the protection of the U.S. Embassy for a Beijing hospital ringed by Chinese police. Alone with his wife and children, Chen Guangcheng periodically switched on a cell phone Thursday to tell friends and foreign media he felt scared and wa...

Philippines erects wall to obscure view of slumsMANILA, Philippines (AP) — Delegates attending an international conference in the Philippines capital may not see what they came to discuss: abject poverty. A makeshift, temporary wall has been erected across a bridge on a road from the airport to downtown Manila that hides a sprawling slum along a garbage-strewn creek. Presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang defended the wall’s installation, saying Thursday “any country will do a little fixing...

Crisis-hit Japan mulls shift to renewable energyTOKYO (AP) — Another long, stupefyingly hot summer is looming for Japan just as it shuts down its last operating nuclear power reactor, worsening a squeeze on electricity and adding urgency to calls for a green energy revolution. On Saturday, the last of the country’s 50 usable nuclear reactors will be switched off, completely idling a power source that once supplied a third of Japan’s electricity. At a time when temptation to set the aircon t...

Prosecution wants 80 years for Charles TaylorAMSTERDAM (AP) — Former Liberian president Charles Taylor deserves an 80-year sentence for the war crimes he was convicted of last week, including aiding and abetting murder and rape on a mass scale, prosecutors said in a written filing Thursday. Judges at the Special Court for Sierra Leone on April 26 ruled Taylor played a crucial role in helping rebels to continue a bloody rampage during that West African nation’s 11-year civil war, which en...

Fierce clashes stoke tensions ahead of Egypt voteCAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s worst violence in months escalated the confrontation between political forces and the ruling military ahead of a landmark presidential election, as suspected army supporters attacked mainly Islamist protesters outside the Defense Ministry Wednesday, sparking clashes that left at least 11 people dead. Political parties swiftly blamed the ruling generals for the bloodshed and vowed the election must go ahead as planned to en...

Clinton urges China to protect human rightsBEIJING (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told China on Thursday that it must protect human rights, in remarks that rejected Beijing’s criticism of the U.S. for getting involved in the case of a blind dissident whose fate overshadowed the opening of annual talks between the powerful countries. Clinton said at the opening of the talks on foreign policy and economic issues that the U.S. believes “all governments have to answer our...

India ferry capsizes; 103 dead, 100 missingBURABURI, India (AP) — Rescuers on Tuesday had recovered 103 bodies from a turbulent northeastern river after a heavily packed ferry capsized, saying they feared that dozens of others had been swept by the current to neighboring Bangladesh. The overloaded ferry overturned and broke into two pieces in stormy weather late Monday. About 100 people were still missing Tuesday evening. Abdul Mazid, a local villager, was among grieving relatives and ...

After 50 years, Cubans hope to travel freelyHAVANA (AP) — After controlling the comings and goings of its people for five decades, communist Cuba appears on the verge of a momentous decision to lift many travel restrictions. One senior official says a “radical and profound” change is weeks away. The comment by Parliament Chief Ricardo Alarcon has residents, exiles and policymakers abuzz with speculation that the much-hated exit visa could be a thing of the past, even if Raul Castro’s go...

Sarkozy fighting for his future, likely to losePARIS (AP) — President Nicolas Sarkozy is the underdog, and he knows it. Not a single poll has predicted he will win re-election on Sunday, and leading figures in his government are already lining up new jobs. In televised interviews, Sarkozy’s on the defensive and paints himself as a victim. At campaign rallies, he’s boxer-like, punching the air, torso soaked with sweat within minutes of taking the podium. He relishes the combat, but after he...

UK lawmakers: Rupert Murdoch unfit to lead companyLONDON (AP) — A committee of British lawmakers called Rupert Murdoch unfit to run his global media empire — a finding that reflects just how deeply the phone hacking scandal born of his defunct News of the World has shaken the relationship between the press and politics. The divisive ruling Tuesday against Murdoch, his son James and three of their executives also exposed the waning influence of the media tycoon, and could jeopardize his contro...

Human rights showdown awaits Clinton in BeijingBEIJING (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived Wednesday in Beijing, where a tense human rights showdown awaits over the fate of a blind Chinese lawyer said to be under U.S. protection after escaping from house arrest. The issue of Chen Guangcheng’s future threatens to overshadow this year’s round of high-level strategic and economic talks between the world’s two biggest economic powers. Those talks begin Thursday. Publicly, ...

Obama flies to Afghanistan, signs pact with KarzaiKABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — President Barack Obama slipped into Afghanistan Tuesday night on the anniversary of the killing of 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden and signed an agreement cementing U.S. commitment to the nation after American combat troops leave. Alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Obama declared, “Together, we’re now committed to replacing war with peace.” The partnership spells out the U.S. relationship with Afghanistan beyond...